1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aircraft wing with a wing box and at least one nose flap that is moveable, about a nose swivel axis lying crosswise to the incident flow and outside the wing structure, between a starting position bearing against the wing box and an operating position spaced in front of the wing box.
2. Discussion of Background Information
With almost all aircraft according to the prior art, extendible nose flaps on the aircraft wings are used to increase uplift, particularly in high angle of attack situations. Various embodiments of such flaps are known in the prior art, such as, for example, “droop nose flaps,” “Kroger flaps” or “split nose flaps.” Different forms and constructions of drives or bearings of extendible nose flaps of this type are also known. Spindle drives, rack and pinion drives, or slot roll guide drives are used for the flap guidance of split nose flaps. A problem exists in that, with the split nose flaps, the necessary path of motion cannot be represented as rotation about a support point located on the wing.
In some conventional systems, the extension movement of the nose flap relative to the wing is achieved by a combined translational and rotational motion. However, such systems have corresponding demands on the extension geometry of the actuating mechanism that must be met. Generally, these demands are met by way of a sliding guide in which a pair of rollers moves over a rail.
In other known systems, the required extending movement of the nose flap relative to the wing is made by a rotation of the flap about an axis lying crosswise to the incident flow and outside the wing structure. Such systems typically employ spindle drive rods. However, these systems with spindle drive rods are disadvantageous because they occupy considerable space in the direction of the wing structure. That is, the spindle drive rods usually extend far into the tank space accommodated in the wing structure, where they have to be blocked off from the tank space in a complex manner by pressure canisters. Furthermore, due to the length of the spindles, these systems generally have a high structural weight, which is unfavorable in aircraft.
An actuating device for a control flap arranged on the trailing edge of an aircraft wing is known from German Patent No. DE 103 28 717 B3, in which an actuating device comprising a pyramid transmission arrangement is used. In this system, the rotational axis for the control flap is spaced apart from the plane of the airfoil profile. However, the actuating device is complicated in its structural embodiment in that it has a plurality of moveable elements, a correspondingly large number of support points, and a resultant high structural weight. Furthermore, the drive of the actuating device occurs through a rotary control element that exerts an adjusting torque on swivel elements of the pyramid transmission. As a result, these elements must be embodied in a correspondingly solid manner, which has the undesired effect of increasing the structural weight of the system.